Dr. Tyson of Cosmos fame has come in for mockery after proposing a “virtual country” called #Rationalia.
Earth needs a virtual country: #Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 29, 2016
He’s even got some pictures of friends posing in what looks like a mash-up between police mug shots and The Hollywood Squares. That’s Dawkins at two down, three across, as a “Citizen of #Rationalia.”
Are you a citizen of #Rationalia ? pic.twitter.com/wot8pW2Baj
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 29, 2016
Look, I know Tyson for all his popularity is not exactly a serious thinker, for better or worse, so I wouldn’t take this too seriously. It doesn’t, by itself, represent a move to authoritarianism on the part of the New Atheist or “skeptic” community.
It’s merely a daydream for Tyson, but as daydreams go, it is disturbing. “A one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence,” if it were imaginable in practice, would be a formula for scientistic quasi-fascism. The problems are obvious. Who would weigh the relevant “evidence”? What about questions — the vast majority in government — that turn upon the application of values once the “evidence,” whatever there may be, is available?
What about questions — extremely common — where the “evidence” is ambiguous? Tyson’s imaginary republic is an invitation to arbitrary, undemocratic rule. Absolutely, follow the evidence where it leads, as you understand it, in your own intellectual and spiritual life. But to picture imposing that on others is a dictator’s impulse.
Shouldn’t that be obvious? To a leading figure in discussions of science and faith, with ready access to influence on public opinion, it’s not obvious. That’s scary. And it’s not just Tyson, either.
John West has noted a far broader rise of “totalitarian science” in the age of Obama. For a sobering analysis of what constitutes the best “evidence” in Dr. Tyson’s presentation of it, see our book The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos: Fact and Fiction in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Landmark Science Series.
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, via Flickr.